Injury Statistics Work-related Claims: 2009

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1 Embargoed until 10:45am 19 October 2010 Highlights In 2009 (all figures are provisional unless stated otherwise): Sprains and strains were the most common type of work-related injury claim. 94,400 claims were made for sprain and strain injuries (44 percent of all claims). 213,000 claims were made for work-related injuries. 71 percent of work-related injury claims were for males (an incidence rate of 142 claims per 1,000 FTEs), greater than that for females (73 claims per 1,000 FTEs). Workers aged made more claims for work-related injuries than any other age group, with 50,100 claims (24 percent of all claims). Trades workers, plant and machine operators and assemblers, and agriculture and fishery workers made 48 percent of work-related injury claims. Figure 1 Geoff Bascand 19 October 2010 Government Statistician ISSN

2 Commentary Background The figures presented in this Hot Off the Press are for claims accepted by the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) for work-related injuries. The statistics are based on one claim for each person for each injury event. The information covers all claims for work-related injuries, including claims involving entitlement payments and claims for fatal injuries. Claims are included in the Excel tables under the calendar year in which the injury occurred (see the Tables section). The information is presented using a conceptual framework, although data is not available to provide information for all of the framework. The framework has the following elements: individual the characteristics of the injured person activity the actions carried out by the person just before the injury occurred event or accident the injury event or accident environs and locale the scene and location of the activity that led to the injury injury the damage to the person that resulted from the event or accident outcome the effect of the injury on individuals and society. The figures released for the first time are final statistics for 2008 and provisional statistics for 2009 (both as reported by 31 March 2010). Trends in work-related injuries for the seven years from are also reported. The figures for injuries that occurred in 2009 are provisional because claims for these injuries can still be lodged and updated. The final figures are expected to be higher than the provisional figures as more claims are received over the year. Because the provisional figures for 2009 are not comparable with the final figures from earlier years, they have been excluded from the discussion of the trends. Final work-related injury figures for 2009 (as reported by 31 March 2011) will be released in October (See the 'Technical notes' for details of the definition of final figures which have been developed for the purposes of this release.) Summary of work-related injury claims The provisional number of claims for work-related injuries that occurred in the 2009 calendar year was 213,000 (as reported by 31 March 2010). 2

3 Figure 2 The final number of claims increased slightly each year from 2002 to 2005 (from 240,100 to 246,800 claims). From 2006, the number of claims decreased each year to 228,300 in 2008 (Figure 2). In 2009, the provisional incidence rate was 112 work-related injury claims per 1,000 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs). Figure 3 Figure 3 shows the final incidence rate has decreased each year from 143 in 2002 to 119 in Provisionally, in 2009, 13 percent (26,700) of claims resulted in entitlement payments (see the Technical notes for details on entitlement payments). 3

4 The number of entitlement claims has fluctuated with no clear pattern between 2002 and 2008 with a lowest value of 30,700 in 2002 and a highest value of 34,900 in both 2005 and Each year entitlement claims represented 13 to 15 percent of all claims. The 2009 provisional incidence rate for entitlement payments is 14 claims per 1,000 FTEs. (The provisional figure for 2008 was 16.) Between 2002 and 2008, the incidence rate for entitlement payments remained between 18 and 19 claims per 1,000 FTEs, with the final 2008 incidence rate being 18 claims per 1,000 FTEs. Between 2002 and 2008, the number of claims for fatal work-related injuries fluctuated between a lowest value of 86 in 2008 and a highest value of 103 in The 2009 provisional figure was 89, compared with the 2008 provisional figure of 63, which increased to 86 in the 2008 final figures. This increase suggests that provisional 2009 figures are best interpreted with caution. Additionally, not all work-related fatalities result in a claim to ACC. Characteristics of the injured person Sex All provisional claims by sex: 2009 In 2009, 152,100 work-related injury claims (71 percent) were for males. Males had an incidence rate of 142 claims per 1,000 FTEs, which was higher than the rate for females (73 claims per 1,000 FTEs). Provisionally, the number of claims for fatal injuries that occurred in 2009 was 89, and the majority of these claims (more than 80 claims) were for males. Trends by sex: Males consistently accounted for just under three-quarters (72 to 74 percent) of all work-related claims each year between 2002 and In each year, males also had a higher incidence rate than females, but the rate for males decreased from 183 in 2002 to 150 in The rate for females has also decreased over this period from 88 in 2002 to 77 in Age All provisional claims by age: 2009 Figure 4 shows that in 2009, workers aged years made more claims for work-related injuries than any other age group, with 50,100 claims (24 percent of all claims). The age group with the next highest number of claims was workers aged years, who made 46,300 claims (22 percent of all claims). 4

5 Figure 4 Although in 2009 workers aged 65 years and over (65+) made only 5 percent of all claims (11,500 claims), this age group had the highest incidence rate of 190 claims per 1,000 FTEs. The high incidence rate for older workers is partly due to the small number of these workers (61,000 FTEs) compared with the number of workers in the younger age groups. Workers aged years had the second-highest incidence rate, with 128 claims per 1,000 FTEs (figure 5). Figure 5 All provisional entitlement claims by age: 2009 Figure 6 shows that, as was the case for all work-related claims, in 2009 workers aged years lodged more entitlement claims than any other age group, with 6,200 claims (23 percent of all entitlement claims). Workers aged 65+ made the fewest entitlement claims, with 2,200 claims (8 percent). 5

6 Figure 6 Figure 7 shows the provisional 2009 incidence rate of entitlement claims by age group. The 65+ age group had an incidence rate of 36 entitlement claims per 1,000 FTEs in This rate was considerably higher than the incidence rate for any other age group, as was the corresponding rate for all claims. The rate for the other age groups varied between 12 and 16 entitlement claims per 1,000 FTEs. Figure 7 All provisional fatal claims by age: 2009 In 2009, the number of fatal injury claims tended to increase with age. Thirty-two fatal claims were lodged for people aged 65+, which was 36 percent of all fatal claims. By comparison, people aged accounted for 17 claims (19 percent). The least number of fatal claims occurred in the age groups and with 6 claims in each of these age groups (7 percent each, of fatal claims in 2009). 6

7 Trends by age: Figure 8 shows that between 2002 and 2007, workers aged consistently made the most claims each year. However, in 2008 those aged made slightly more claims than those aged The number of claims made by workers aged decreased from 52,800 in 2002 to 42,500 in 2008 (down 20 percent). Likewise, the number of claims for those aged decreased from 61,300 to 51,100 (down 17 percent) over the same period. However, the number of claims made by workers aged increased slightly from 50,400 in 2002 to 51,700 in Workers aged 15 24, 55 64, and 65+ made the fewest claims between 2002 and The annual number of claims lodged by those aged 65+ increased, rising steadily from 6,800 claims in 2002 to reach 10,800 in 2008, although claims for this age group comprised only 3 to 5 percent of all claims over the period. Figure 8 Figure 9 shows that between 2002 and 2008, workers aged 65+ had the highest incidence rate of work-related claims, with 228 claims per 1,000 FTEs in 2002 and 190 in Workers aged had the next highest rate, with 166 claims per 1,000 FTEs in 2002 and 144 in Between 2002 and 2008 incidence rates decreased for all age groups, except for the 65+ group whose incidence rates decreased between 2002 and 2007 before increasing slightly in

8 Figure 9 Ethnicity Changes in the measurement of ethnicity The provisional 2009 figures report ethnicity using the total response classification rather than the single ethnic group classification used in previous releases. For this reason the 2009 figures are not comparable with those produced in previous years. (The final 2008 figures in this report are still reported with the single ethnic group classification.) The total response classification method of measuring ethnicity involves counting all of the responses provided from each person for each ethnic group. Single ethnic group is a classification method that assigns people to a single ethnic group in the cases where they have provided multiple ethnicities. (See the 'Technical notes' for details of each of these methods.) Before 2009, Asians were included in the 'other' ethnic group for the incidence rate as figures for Asians were not available from the Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS). As both the ACC figures and the HLFS have changed to measuring ethnicity by total response, it is possible to provide an incidence rate in 2009 for both Asians and other ethnic groups. Provisional claims by ethnicity: 2009 Statistics for the 'other' ethnic group have been excluded from this commentary because the ethnic categories are diverse and the figures are difficult to interpret. In particular, it is difficult to interpret why this group has the highest rate of claims per 1,000 FTEs. Provisionally in 2009, Europeans lodged 146,900 claims for work-related injuries. This figure represents 69 percent of all work-related claims. Māori lodged 11 percent of claims (23,200 claims) and Pacific peoples and Asians each lodged 5 percent of claims (11,600 claims each). Pacific peoples had an incidence rate of 125 claims per 1,000 FTEs, compared with 106 for Māori, and 99 for Europeans (figure 10). 8

9 Figure 10 Europeans were the ethnic group with the most fatal claims (59 claims or 66 percent of all fatal claims). However, 10 of the claims (11 percent) had no ethnic group specified. Comparing incidence rates for each ethnic group by age shows that for each ethnic group incidence rates were higher for age groups of 45 and over than for age groups below 45. Pacific peoples had the highest incidence rate for all age groups except for those over 65, while Asians had the lowest incidence rate in all age ranges. For all of the ethnic groups, the incidence rates were highest for agriculture and fishery workers. For all occupation groups, either Pacific peoples or Europeans had the highest incidence rate, while Māori and Asians had lower incidence rates. Trends by ethnicity: Trends in the number of claims or the incidence rates by ethnicity are not included in this release. A population rebase in the HLFS created a break in the series of incidence rates by ethnicity between 2006 and 2007 (see the Technical notes for details). A new series using total response ethnicity will start with the final 2009 statistics and will be published in Although there has been a break in the time series, both of the changes in the measurement of ethnicity will improve the reporting of injury statistics by ethnicity. Occupation All provisional claims by occupation: 2009 In 2009, trades workers lodged the most claims for work-related injuries, with 38,700 claims (18 percent of all claims). The second- and third-highest number of claims were lodged by plant and machine operators and assemblers (31,600 claims) and agriculture, forestry, and fishery workers (30,900 claims), respectively. 9

10 Figure 11 shows that the agriculture and fishery workers occupation group had the highest incidence rate, at 249 work-related injury claims per 1,000 FTEs. Workers in the elementary occupations group (for example, labourers and cleaners) had the next highest at 207 claims per 1,000 FTEs. The lowest rates were for the professionals and clerks occupation groups with 41 and 38 claims per 1,000 FTEs, respectively. Figure 11 All provisional entitlement claims by occupation: 2009 In 2009, plant and machine operators and assemblers lodged the most entitlement claims (5,900 or 22 percent of all entitlement claims). The second- and third-highest number of claims were made by trades workers (4,700 or 17 percent), and agriculture, forestry, and fishery workers (3,800 or 14 percent). The high percentage of entitlement claims for these three occupation groups is consistent with the figures for all work-related claims. All provisional fatal claims by occupation: 2009 Fifteen of the fatal claims for 2009 were lodged for agriculture, forestry, and fishery workers. Trades workers accounted for 13 fatal claims. However, for 32 (36 percent) of the fatal claims, the occupation was not known. The remaining 29 fatal injury claims were distributed across a range of occupations. 10

11 Trends by occupation: Between 2002 and 2008, workers within five occupation groups consistently made the highest number of claims: plant and machine operators and assemblers; trades workers; agriculture, forestry, and fishery workers; service and sales workers, and workers in elementary occupations. However, the ordering of these groups varied between individual years. The percentage of claims by plant and machine operators and assemblers (16 to 18 percent), service and sales workers (10 to 11 percent), and agriculture and fishery workers (14 to 15 percent) each remained steady from 2002 to However, the percentage of claims by the elementary occupations decreased slightly from 14 percent in 2002 to 11 percent in The proportion of claims by trades workers increased over the same period from 13 percent to 19 percent, from fourth-highest in 2002 to highest in The elementary occupations group had the highest incidence rate of work-related claims between 2002 and However, in 2008 agriculture, and fishery workers had a slightly higher rate with 245 claims per 1,000 FTEs compared with 243 claims per 1,000 FTEs for elementary occupations. Plant and machine operators and assemblers, and trades workers had the nexthighest rates. Figure 12 11

12 Employment status In 2009, employees lodged the majority of work-related claims (175,300 or 82 percent). However, the self-employed had a considerably higher incidence rate (194 claims per 1,000 FTEs) than employees (103 claims per 1,000 FTEs). The 2009 provisional figures were consistent with the final figures for each year from The proportion of claims lodged by employees increased slightly over this period from 81 percent in 2002 to 84 percent in 2007 and In each year, the self-employed had a considerably higher incidence rate than employees, although this incidence rate decreased from 237 in 2002 to 177 claims per 1,000 FTEs in Claims per person The 213,000 claims for work-related injuries that occurred in 2009 were made by 191,000 people. Most people (172,300 or 90 percent) lodged only one claim. Around 16,100 people (8 percent) lodged two claims (that is, made claims for two separate injury events). About 1 percent of those who sustained a work-related injury lodged more than two claims. The statistics in this release are based on one claim for each person for the same injury event. Sometimes more than one claim is recorded in the data for the same person and injury event. Statistics New Zealand makes every effort possible to identify these claims, and remove the multiple claims per person from the data used to generate the statistics. However, a small proportion of people making more than one claim for the same injury event may still be reported in the figures as making two or more claims. Environs and locale of the injury Location/scene of injury Around 82,400 claims (39 percent of all claims) for work-related injuries in 2009 were made for injuries that occurred in a commercial or service location, and around 50,500 (24 percent) were made for injuries that occurred in an industrial place. Geographic region Provisional claims by geographic region: 2009 The Auckland region had the most work-related injury claims in 2009, with 60,300 or 28 percent, considerably higher than the number of claims for any other region. However, figure 13 shows that the regions with the highest incidence rates were Gisborne/Hawke s Bay, Northland, and Bay of Plenty, which had 155, 149, and 148 claims per 1,000 FTEs, respectively. Wellington had the lowest rate, with 63 claims per 1,000 FTEs. 12

13 Figure 13 The highest number of entitlement claims by region also occurred in the Auckland region, which accounted for 23 percent of such claims (6,200 claims). However, this region had the secondlowest incidence rate of 11 entitlement claims per 1,000 FTEs. The Wellington region had the lowest rate, with eight entitlement claims per 1,000 FTEs. The highest rates of entitlement claims lodged occurred in Otago/Southland, Northland, and Bay of Plenty, which had 21, 19, and 19 entitlement claims per 1,000 FTEs, respectively. The highest number of claims (19) lodged for work-related fatal injuries occurred in the Auckland region, followed by the Canterbury region where 16 work-related fatal injuries occurred. Trends by geographic region: The Auckland region consistently had the highest number of injuries resulting in work-related claims, accounting for just over one-quarter of injuries each year from 2002 to Canterbury had the next-highest number, accounting for 15 percent of the claims each year. There were few clear trends in the incidence rates of work-related claims for individual regions between 2002 and Specifically, no one region consistently had the highest incidence rate each year. The Wellington region had the lowest incidence rate each year. 13

14 Industry All provisional claims by industry: 2009 Nineteen percent of work-related injury claims in 2009 did not specify the industry of the workplace where the injury occurred. For this reason, the following figures should be interpreted with caution. In particular, the incidence rates reported may only be indicative of the actual incidence rates. Workers in the manufacturing industry lodged the highest number of claims, with 34,300 workrelated claims (16 percent of all claims). Workers in the construction industry, and the agriculture, forestry, and fishing industry lodged the second- and third-highest numbers, with 24,700 (12 percent) and 21,800 claims (10 percent), respectively. Figure 14 shows the incidence rate of work-related claims was highest in the agriculture, forestry, and fishing industry, with 172 claims per 1,000 FTEs. This was followed by construction (with 148 claims per 1,000 FTEs), cultural and recreational services (with 144 claims per 1,000 FTEs), and manufacturing (with 140 claims per 1,000 FTEs). The finance and insurance industry had the lowest rate, at 18 claims per 1,000 FTEs. Females made more work-related claims than males in the following industries: accommodation, cafes, and restaurants; finance and insurance; education; and health and community services. 14

15 Figure 14 All provisional entitlement claims by industry: 2009 The proportion of entitlement claims where the industry was unknown (9 percent) was less than the proportion for all claims (19 percent), but was still high enough that the following results should be interpreted with caution. The distribution of entitlement claims across industries was similar to the distribution for all claims. The highest number of injuries resulting in entitlement claims occurred in the manufacturing industry, which had 5,800 such claims (22 percent of all entitlement claims). The construction industry had the second-highest number (3,900 or 15 percent), followed by the agriculture, forestry, and fishing industry (3,500 or 13 percent). All provisional fatal claims by industry: 2009 The construction, and the agriculture, forestry, and fishing industries had the highest number of fatal injury claims, with 23 and 13 claims, respectively (26 percent and 15 percent of all fatal injury claims, respectively). However, these results should be interpreted with caution because the industry was not known for 22 of the fatal claims (25 percent) and not all work-related fatalities result in a claim to ACC. 15

16 Trends by industry: Trends by industry are not discussed in this commentary because of the high proportion of claims where the industry was unknown and also because this proportion (where the industry is unknown) has been increasing each year from Injury Type of injury In 2009, sprains and strains accounted for 94,400 work-related claims (44 percent of all claims), considerably higher than the number lodged for open wounds (28,700 claims or 13 percent) and contusions (19,600 claims or 9 percent), which were the second and third most common types of injury resulting in a work-related claim. The majority of injuries (87 percent) were categorised under injury, poisoning, and consequences of external causes, compared with 12 percent categorised as an illness or disease. These statistics are based on the year that an injury occurred, and many occupational diseases may not become apparent until many years after the exposure to hazardous substances. Of all entitlement claims, 9,700 (or 37 percent of entitlement claims) were made for sprains and strains. Fractures and open wounds were the second most common types of injury resulting in entitlement claims and accounted for 2,500 such claims each (10 percent and 9 percent, respectively). (Note the difference in the percentages occurred because the percentages were calculated on unrounded numbers.) In each year from 2002 to 2008, the distribution of the type of injury is similar. Location of injury by body site When grouped by body site, provisional 2009 figures show injuries to the lower torso (categorised as the abdomen, lower back, lumbar spine, and pelvis) and injuries to the wrist and hand were the most common sites for work-related claims, accounting for 39,200 (18 percent of all claims) and 35,000 claims (16 percent of all claims), respectively. Injuries to the head and neck were the third most common site, accounting for 30,700 claims (14 percent). Outcome of injury Costs The Accident Compensation Corporation Annual Report 2009 (page 78) shows that claims in the workers account (that is, all work-related claims) cost $518 million in the 2008/09 financial year ($443 million plus $75 million handling costs). Previously, Statistics NZ has released figures on costs for work-related injury claims. These figures were calculated using the same cut-off dates for final and provisional data as all other figures in this release (see Technical notes for details). However, some injuries incur costs over many years and any ongoing costs occurring after the cut-off date would not be included in the figures in this release. Consequently, in 2009 Statistics NZ decided not to release these figures and instead report on the cost of work-related injury figures produced by ACC, which provide a better measure of the ongoing costs of work-related injuries. 16

17 Type of payments Provisionally in 2009, most claims (87 percent) were for medical fees only, that is, they were claims for injuries resulting in cover for medical treatment only (no entitlement payments were made). Weekly compensation and rehabilitation payments were made in 7 percent and 5 percent of claims, respectively. Most claims (80 percent) involved only one or two types of payment, with 57 percent and 23 percent of all claims, respectively. 17

18 Technical notes Accident The Accident Compensation Act 2001 (the Act 2001) section 25, defines accident to include: a specific event, or a series of events, that involves the application of a force (including gravity) or resistance external to the human body, or involves the sudden movement of the body to avoid such a force or resistance external to the human body, or a twisting movement of the body the inhalation or oral ingestion of any solid, liquid, gas, or foreign object on a specific occasion, which kind of occurrence does not include the inhalation or ingestion of a virus, bacterium, protozoa, or fungi unless that inhalation or ingestion is the result of the criminal act of a person other than the injured person a burn, or exposure to radiation or rays of any kind, on a specific occasion, which kind of occurrence does not include a burn or exposure caused by exposure to the elements the absorption of any chemical through the skin any exposure to the elements, or to extremes of temperature or environment. Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) The Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) administers New Zealand s accident compensation scheme, which provides no-fault personal injury cover for all New Zealand citizens and residents, and visitors to New Zealand. The ACC scheme is governed by the Accident Compensation Act (the Act 2001). An ACC claim is made when treatment for an injury is first sought from any recognised health professional, such as a doctor, a physiotherapist, or a dentist. Claims that are accepted by the ACC are divided into different categories for funding purposes. Only those claims in the workrelated category are included in this release. See work-related claims for more information. Age Age specifies the injured person s age in years, as at the date of injury, and is calculated from the date of birth. This age may differ from the worker s age when the claim is lodged, the age when compensation is received, or the age at death (if the worker dies of the injury). Body site of injury Body site of injury is the part or parts of the body injured in the accident. Body site is classified using the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th revision, Australian Modification, Second Edition (ICD-10-AM). The codes of the classification combine information on the type of injury, illness or disease, and the body site in a detailed, hierarchical manner. Claims A claim is a lodgement by a person or care provider requesting that ACC assists through paying for, or helping to pay for medical, weekly compensation and/or rehabilitation costs associated with an injury. A person can have more than one ACC claim. 18

19 All claims registered by ACC are categorised according to the type of services the claimant goes on to receive. There are two main categories of claim used in this release (see claims for medical fees only, and claims involving entitlement payments for details). Claims for fatal work-related injuries Claims for fatal work-related injuries are those made to ACC for deaths that resulted from workplace injuries (for example, a fatal work-related fall) or occupational diseases resulting in death, such as asbestos-related illnesses. The statistics in this release are not a definitive count of work-related fatalities. First, because not all fatal work-related injuries are the subject of claims to the ACC. Secondly, in this release fatal work-related injuries are counted in the year that the injury took place. This differs from ACC practice where work-related deaths are counted in the year that the death took place. The concept of counting deaths in the year the injury took place is problematic in the case of occupational disease, where the effects of exposure to known carcinogens or other hazardous substances may take many years to become apparent. To create consistency in the count of work-related deaths across years, only deaths occurring within 15 months of the end of the calendar year in which the injury took place are included in the totals for final estimates. For provisional estimates of work-related fatalities, deaths occurring within three months of the end of the calendar year the injury took place are counted (see final figures and provisional figures for more detail). Claims for medical fees only These are claims where ACC has paid a health professional for medical treatment or service. About 85 percent of all ACC claims are in this category and often involve only one or two visits to a health professional. A claim is deemed to be a medical fee only claim if it has received medical, dental treatment, or counselling. Treatment provided at a hospital accident and emergency department (A&E) is bulk funded by ACC directly to the district health boards (DHBs) and is not recorded against individual claims. Claims involving treatment provided at A&E only are not included in this release. Claims involving entitlement payments These are claims that have progressed past the medical fees only claim category. Compensation and support for returning to independence may have been required. A claim is deemed to involve compensation or rehabilitation if it has received payment for treatment, income maintenance, death benefits, vocational rehabilitation or support for independence. Diagnosis of injury and illness/disease The diagnosis is the type of injury, illness or disease sustained by the worker, and recorded on the ACC claim by the treatment provider. Diagnosis is classified using the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th revision, Australian Modification, Second Edition (ICD-10-AM). 19

20 For this release, where more than one diagnosis was provided the first diagnosis listed was used. Diagnoses are aggregated into three groups based on National Data Standards for Injury Surveillance (NDS-IS) recommendations (see National Data Standards for Injury Surveillance for more detail). Employment status Employment status indicates whether a worker is self-employed (that is, working for himself/herself), or is an employee (working for another person or entity). The employment status figures cover all those working for wages and salaries, including those working for employers who belong to the ACC partnership programme. The self-employed figures include those classified as self-employed and not employing others, but exclude those working without pay or profit in a family business. While this differs from the definition in the Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS), it corresponds closely to definitions used for workplace accident insurance. Entitlement payments See Claims involving entitlement payments. Ethnic group Ethnic group is a self-identified variable that measures cultural affiliation and is distinct from terms such as race, ancestry, nationality or citizenship. An individual may identify their ethnicity according to a number of characteristics including: a common name one or more elements of common culture which may include religion, customs, or language unique community of interests, feelings and actions a shared sense of common origins a common geographic origin. Ethnic group reporting for Ethnic group reporting for the number of claims from 2002 to 2008 uses a single ethnic group for each claim. It is possible that an injured worker, in an ACC claim, will list more than one ethnic group. However, only one ethnic group has been included in the claims data used for these statistics. This is chosen on the basis of the ethnicity recorded in the first column of the data. For the reporting of full-time equivalent employee (FTE) numbers by ethnic group, the HLFS allows up to three ethnic groups to be coded for each respondent, and then the following prioritising system is used to allocate a single ethnic group code: any person who reports a Māori ethnicity is allocated to the Māori category any person who reports a Pacific people ethnicity (that is Samoan, Cook Island Maori, Niuean, Tongan, or Other Pacific), but not Māori ethnicity, is allocated to the Pacific peoples category 20

21 any person who reports a Chinese, Indian and/or other ethnicity, but not Māori and/or Pacific peoples ethnicity, is allocated to the other category any person who reports a European/Pakeha ethnicity only, is allocated to the European/Pakeha category only. This difference in coding multiple ethnicities means that where ACC and HLFS figures are combined, as in the calculation of incidence rates, the numerator and denominator are measured in different ways, even though the labels of the categories used in each are the same. Ethnic group reporting for 2009 Ethnic group reporting for provisional 2009 figures uses total response for both the number of claims and the number of FTEs. Total response counts the injured person once in every ethnic group they identify with. For example, people of Samoan, Tongan, and Māori ethnicities would be counted once in the Pacific peoples category and once in the Māori category. Counting individuals in more than one ethnic group means that the sum of the ethnic groups will be greater than the number of people. However, it does mean that all ethnicities are counted and identified in a specific unambiguous ethnic group and that the relative size of the groups within the population is fairly represented. In this release, up to three separate ethnic groups are reported for each claim. Any remaining ethnic groups reported have been grouped as other' ethnicity. As multiple ethnicities are coded in the same manner by ACC and the HLFS, the numerator and denominator are consistent in the calculation of incidence rates. The provisional 2009 figures on ethnic group are not comparable with the figures produced in previous releases or the final 2008 figures in this release. Tables and commentary on trends by ethnic group are not reported in this release, because of the break in the time series. Fatal injury claims See Claims for fatal work-related injuries above. Fatal injury payments If someone dies as a result of an injury ACC may help cover financial needs. Payments may include funeral grants, survivor grants, childcare payments, and weekly compensation for wages. These payments are paid to the deceased s next of kin. Final figures For the purposes of this release claims are included in the tables under the calendar year in which the injury occurred. For final figures, claims are only included if some costs are recorded within 15 months of the end of the calendar year in which the injury occurred. This allows for a consistent comparison between the years. Although details of claims may change after this time (for example the claimant may die), the statistics in this release will not be updated to reflect these changes. 21

22 Full-time equivalent employees (FTEs) Full-time equivalent employees are the number of full-time employees plus half the number of part-time employees. The FTE is a standard measure used in labour force statistics, for example, to calculate average weekly earnings. It is used instead of total number of employees for the calculation of the incidence rate, as part-time employees have a lower exposure to injury because they work fewer hours than full-time employees. This allows the denominator of the incidence rate to be expressed as units that each have approximately the same risk of work-related injury. The FTE numbers used in this release are annual averages derived from the HLFS, and are used to calculate injury incidence rates by age, sex, ethnic group, employment status, industry, occupation, and region where the injury occurred. Because FTE numbers are derived from a sample survey, the FTE figures are subject to both sampling and non-sampling error, and should therefore be seen as indicative rather than definitive. Geographic region where the injury occurred Geographic region is the part of New Zealand or the world where the injury event took place. The physical address or place of the injury event is classified according to the territorial authority (TA) in which it occurred, TAs are grouped into regions of New Zealand. There is also an additional group of codes for injuries that occurred outside New Zealand. The regions reported in this release mostly align with regional council boundaries, but in a few cases TAs straddle these council boundaries. Those TAs have been assigned to the region containing the greatest proportion of their population, on the basis of the usually resident population count, 2001 Census. The TAs involved are Franklin, Waitomo, Taupo, Rotorua, Stratford, Rangitikei, Tararua, and Waitaki districts. Household Labour Force Survey Statistics NZ s quarterly Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS), produces a range of statistics on the employed, unemployed, and those not in the labour force. The target population of the HLFS is the civilian, usually resident, non-institutionalised population aged 15 years and over. It therefore excludes: people in non-private dwellings such as hospitals and prisons, visitors from overseas who are staying for less than 12 months, the armed forces overseas diplomats in New Zealand people living on offshore islands (except Waiheke Island). The HLFS provides the FTE figures that are used in this release to calculate incidence rates (see full-time equivalent employee above for more detail). HLFS population rebase and incidence rates by ethnicity The December 2008 quarter HLFS release included a population rebase which revised the statistical series back to the 2001 Census to reflect revisions to the population estimates derived 22

23 from the 2006 Census. In addition, population benchmarks for the Māori ethnic group were introduced to improve the quality of the Māori estimates. All the figures including and subsequent to the 2007 final incidence rates are based on rebased FTE figures, however earlier incidence rates have not been revised. For most of the data, the FTE figures after the rebase were similar to those before the rebase, so that the incidence rate calculations were also similar. However, the new Māori population benchmark increased the number of FTEs for Māori. This change has caused a break in the series of incidence rates by ethnicity between 2006 and Therefore, trends in these rates are not discussed in this release. Impairment The ACC defines impairment as any loss or abnormality of psychological, physiological or anatomical structure or function. Level of impairment is used by ACC to determine eligibility for, and amount of, lump sum and independence allowance entitlements (see permanent impairment assessment for more details). Incidence rate The incidence rate is the number of work-related claims per 1,000 FTEs. These rates are used as a means of comparing levels of injury and fatal injury claims between groups with different numbers of workers. This rate is used by the International Labour Organization to enable comparisons of work-related injuries between countries. Independence allowance This is a quarterly payment made to compensate a claimant for any long-term impairment they have as a result of an injury. This payment covers injuries that occurred before 1 April 2002, except for gradual process, sensitive, or medical treatment claims where different time-limits relating to the 2002 cut-off period apply. The injured person must have a permanent impairment assessment resulting in an impairment level of 10 percent or more to be eligible for the independence allowance (see permanent impairment assessment for more details). Industry Industry is the type of activity carried out by the organisation, enterprise, business, or unit of economic activity within which the injured person worked. The Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), New Zealand Version 1996, (Version 4.1) is used to classify each business. Because of the high proportion of claims where the industry was not specified (19 percent in 2009), tables and commentary on trends by industry are not included in this release. Injury The Accident Compensation Act 2001 (the Act 2001), section 26, defines a personal injury to include: death a physical injury, or mental injury caused by a physical injury 23

24 mental injury caused by criminal act work-related mental injury that is suffered by a person through witnessing a sudden traumatic event at work (added from 1 October 2008) damage to dentures or prostheses that replace a part of the human body. The Act 2001 also covers work-related gradual process, disease, or infection. (See work-related gradual process for more detail). Loss of earnings compensation Formerly termed weekly compensation payments, these are payments the ACC pays to claimants who cannot work because of injury. The payment is based on 80 percent of weekly income before the injury occurred and compensates for loss of earnings (or potential earnings), until a certain point determined by ACC. A spouse, partner, or dependant of a deceased claimant may be entitled to loss of earnings compensation. Lump sum payment This is a one-off non-taxable payment to compensate for permanent impairment resulting from an injury. This payment covers injuries that occurred on or after 1 April The injured person must have a permanent impairment assessment resulting in an impairment rating of 10 percent or more to be eligible for a lump sum payment (see permanent impairment assessment for more details). Mental injury The Act 2001 defines mental injury as a clinically significant behavioural, cognitive, or psychological dysfunction. National Data Standards of Injury Surveillance (NDS-IS) This is an Australian standard that describes data items and classifications designed to support injury surveillance. It provides a hierarchy of three levels of data collection and is intended for use in a wide range of health settings. The NDS-IS has comparability with the International Classification of Diseases and Health Related Problems (ICD-10). For this release injury diagnoses are aggregated into three groups based on recommendations from the NDS-IS, these include: injury, poisoning, and other consequences of external causes illness and disease other and undefined. Occupation Occupation is classified according to the New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (NZSCO), 1995, Version 2.0. All occupations in this release relate to the injured person s occupation at the time of injury. 24

25 Permanent impairment assessment Assessments for lump sum and independence allowance payments are fully funded by ACC and completed by an independent medical practitioner. They determine the amount of compensation, based on the level of permanent impairment sustained as a result of the injury. Level of impairment is assessed using the American Medical Association Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, fourth edition (AMA4). It is an estimate of the proportion of the activities of daily living, such as eating or personal hygiene, that an average person is unable to do as a result of their injury. The level of permanent impairment must be 10 percent or more to be eligible for an entitlement. Examples at different impairment levels include: 0 to 5 percent impairment, common lower back injury, not eligible for an entitlement 10 percent impairment, severe damage to the ligaments of the knee, would provide an entitlement 32 percent impairment, amputation of the leg below the knee, would provide an entitlement 80 percent or more impairment, paraplegia, would provide maximum entitlement Provisional figures All claims are included under the calendar year in which the injury occurred. For provisional figures, claims are only included if some costs are recorded within three months of the end of the calendar year in which the injury occurred. For 2009, provisional figures are at 31 March Rehabilitation ACC defines rehabilitation to be a process of active change and support to help a person with an injury to regain his or her health and independence, and therefore the ability to participate in his or her usual activities, as far as is practicable. Rehabilitation payments Rehabilitation payments include compensation for treatment, counselling, travel and accommodation for treatment, childcare, attendant care, equipment, and home modifications. Scene of injury The scene of injury describes the location where the injury occurred. It includes the likes of homes, farms, and roads or streets. Weekly compensation payments See loss of earnings compensation above. Work-related claims Work-related claims are those made to the ACC for work-related injuries. The injury can be either due to an accident or have happened by gradual process related to the person s work (see work-related gradual process below). 25

26 The Act 2001, section 28(1), defines a work-related injury as an injury which happens when the worker is: at his or her place of employment, including when the place moves (as it does for a taxi driver), or is a place to or through which the worker moves, or having a rest or meal break at work, or travelling to or from work in transport provided by the employer, or travelling to or from work in order to receive treatment for a work-related injury. Work-related gradual process Work-related gradual process, disease, or infection includes changes to the body that develop slowly and progressively over time and result in personal injury, such as the effects of exposure to noise or fumes at a workplace or physical deterioration resulting from an activity you can carry out over the course of your work (such as keyboarding). Work-related gradual process is covered under the Act 2001, section 30. When determining a gradual process claim ACC considers the following key elements: whether the injury occurred over a period of four weeks or more whether a characteristic of the work environment has caused the personal injury whether the particular characteristic that has caused or contributed to the injury is present in the person s non-work environment whether the risk of personal injury is greater for people who work in the employment environment than those who do not. Standards Rounding In this Hot Off the Press, figures for the number of claims (except for the number of fatal claims) have been rounded to the nearest hundred. Figures for the number of fatal claims are unrounded. The rounding may result in a total disagreeing slightly with the total of the individual items as shown in the tables Suppression Rounded claims figures of less than 100 have been reported as figures too small to be expressed. Numbers of fatal claims less than four have been expressed as < 4, and if only one cell in the table has been suppressed in this way, another cell has also been suppressed. Percentages All percentages in the Hot Off the Press have been calculated from unrounded data. 26

27 Copyright Information obtained from Statistics NZ may be freely used, reproduced, or quoted unless otherwise specified. In all cases Statistics NZ must be acknowledged as the source. Liability While care has been used in processing, analysing and extracting information, Statistics NZ gives no warranty that the information supplied is free from error. Statistics NZ shall not be liable for any loss suffered through the use, directly or indirectly, of any information, product or service. Timing Timed statistical releases are delivered using postal and electronic services provided by third parties. Delivery of these releases may be delayed by circumstances outside the control of Statistics NZ. Statistics NZ accepts no responsibility for any such delays. For technical information on this release please contact: Barb Lash Wellington

28 Tables The following tables are printed with this Hot Off the Press and can be downloaded from the Statistics New Zealand website in Excel format. If you do not have access to Excel, you may use the Excel file viewer to view, print and export the contents of the file. Trends Claims for work-related injuries, Claims for work-related injuries, by sex 3. Claims for work-related injuries, by age 4. Claims for work-related injuries, by occupation 5. Claims for work-related injuries, by employment status 6. Claims for work-related injuries, by geographic region 7. Claims for work-related injuries, by type of injury or illness/disease 8. Claims for work-related injuries, by percentage of type of injury or illness/disease 2009 provisional statistics 1. Claims for work-related injuries in 2009, by age and sex 2. Claims involving entitlement payments for work-related injuries in 2009, by age and sex 3. Claims for fatal work-related injuries in 2009, by sex 4. Claims for fatal work-related injuries in 2009, by age 5. Claims for work-related injuries in 2009, by ethnic group and sex 6. Claims involving entitlement payments for work-related injuries in 2009, by ethnic group and sex 7. Claims for fatal work-related injuries in 2009, by ethnic group 8. Incidence rate of work-related injury claims in 2009, by age and ethnic group 9. Claims for work-related injuries in 2009, by occupation and sex 10. Claims involving entitlement payments for work-related injuries in 2009, by occupation and sex 11. Claims for fatal work-related injuries in 2009, by occupation 12. Incidence rate of work-related injury claims in 2009, by occupation and ethnic group 13. Claims for work-related injuries in 2009, by employment status and sex 14. Claims for work-related injuries in 2009, by number of claims per person 15. Claims for work-related injuries in 2009, by location/scene of injury and sex 16. Claims for work-related injuries in 2009, by geographic region of injury occurrence and sex 17. Claims involving entitlement payments for work-related injuries in 2009, by geographic region of injury occurrence and sex 18. Claims for fatal work-related injuries in 2009, by geographic region 19. Claims for work-related injuries in 2009, by industry and sex 20. Claims involving entitlement payments for work-related injuries in 2009, by industry and sex 21. Claims for fatal work-related injuries in 2009, by industry 22. Claims for work-related injuries in 2009, by type of injury or illness/disease and sex 23. Claims involving entitlement payments for work-related injuries in 2009, by type of injury or illness/disease and sex 24. Claims for work-related injuries in 2009, by body site of injury and sex 25. Claims for work-related injuries in 2009, by number of types of payment per claim 26. Claims for work-related injuries in 2009, by type of payment 28